The house in the village was not bigger than the one in the county. They squeezed into a small bed at night. Huo Duan couldn't help but make a move. They had to get up early the next day. Gu Fengyan was so tired that his eyelids were fighting. He was annoyed by the disturbance and simply kicked him off the bed.

Huo Duan didn't learn his lesson and continued to make moves. It was only after Gu Fengyan was kicked twice that he learned his lesson.

It was a rare night of sound sleep until dawn.

They got up very early. Huo Xiuling was busy with household chores, so they had to rely on the two of them for the time being.

After getting up and washing his face, Gu Fengyan picked a handful of tender Chinese cabbage at the back of the house, cooked two bowls of plain noodles, and picked some peaches and washed them as dessert after the meal.

Huo Duan set the table and the account book, and the two of them had their meal before starting today's work.

The courtyard gate was open, and the first to come in were Aunt Zhang and a few familiar villagers. Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan went up to greet them.

Aunt Zhang knew they were back yesterday, so she smiled and said, "You came back to help your aunt? She's also too busy to handle everything, running back and forth, I see she's tired."

"Rui Ge'er is pregnant, so Huo Duan and I came back to see her and help my aunt..." Gu Fengyan took her wicker basket and took out the herbs. "Auntie, you're here so early."

There were only a few medicinal herbs at the bottom of the huge rattan basket, weighing only about six pounds.

It was much less than before. Gu Fengyan didn't care much, thinking that Aunt Zhang didn't find it today, but he weighed the villagers behind him and found only a little bit.

That's strange, he raised an eyebrow.

Huo Duan, who was standing at the side, also noticed this and said with a smile, "My sisters-in-law are unlucky today. The medicinal herbs are much less than usual..."

Aunt Zhang sighed, "You may not know this if you are not in the village, but most of the herbs on the Tianshan Mountain have been picked. We got up early, so we picked quite a lot!"

"So that's how it is." Gu Fengyan frowned after hearing this.

This is a serious problem. No matter how many medicinal herbs there are on the mountain, if they continue to be picked day by day, they will all be picked up one day. Ye Shan and Huo Xiuling were probably so busy with their work that they didn't think about this, and he and Huo Duan also neglected it.

Huo Duan spoke a few more words to Mrs. Zhang and the others before sending the person out.

Just as Aunt Zhang said, the medicinal herbs collected by the later groups of villagers were far less than what they had collected.

After finishing their work, Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan started discussing the matter while packing up their things.

"Fortunately we discovered it early, otherwise when all the herbs in the mountain were picked up, our business would be completely over." Gu Fengyan leaned back in a deck chair to take a rest, watching Huo Duan packing things and going in and out from the side.

After Huo Duan finished moving, he walked to Gu Fengyan and picked up the corner of his clothes that were scattered on the mud. "I'll ask those medicinal herb merchants who travel to other places all year round to buy some medicinal herb seeds for you. It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish..."

"Do you want the villagers to grow medicinal herbs?" Gu Fengyan sat up and said.

Huo Duan smiled and nodded, "This is a good thing. There is a lot of wasteland in the village, and the soil looks suitable for growing medicinal herbs."

Gu Fengyan thought about it and felt that it made sense. He took the corner of Huo Duan's clothes back, stood up and stretched, "Okay, but we still have to study which medicinal herbs are most suitable to plant... There are so many medicinal herb seeds, we can't plant everything."

The method of selecting the species is also simple. You just need to choose the best quality herbs from the ones sent by the villagers.

If it can grow well in the wild, it won't be much worse if cultivated artificially.

Huo Duan nodded. The sun was at its zenith. He thought Gu Fengyan was stretching and was about to get up, but he ended up lying on the recliner again, dozing off with his hands to shield his eyes from the sun.

"Why are you so lazy?" He leaned over and rubbed Gu Fengyan's face with his lips, and said with a smile, "You're taking a nap under the scorching sun, aren't you getting any sunburn?"

Gu Fengyan put down his arms, "I'm too lazy to move, I'll just take a nap..."

After a pause, he smiled and spread his arms, "How about you help me move it?"

Huo Duan chuckled, hugged Gu Fengyan tightly in his arms, stretched out his long legs, and kicked the deck chair under the peach tree, "Spoiled."

"It's only been a few days, and you don't even recognize me when you get out of bed." Gu Fengyan bit Huo Duan's earlobe, dissatisfied.

I thought Huo Duan was going to put him down, but unexpectedly he lay down on him, holding Gu Fengyan in his arms and using him as a mattress.

"I want to go to bed with someone but unfortunately A Yan doesn't let me go..." Huo Duan smiled maliciously.

Gu Fengyan choked, moved, and wanted to go down.

Fortunately, he can hold me.

It was precarious for two people to lie on a small deck chair, and it would squeak unwillingly if they moved.

This sound doesn't sound right.

Huo Duan laughed non-stop, "Don't move, take a nap, we still have work to do in the afternoon."

After saying that, he ignored Gu Fengyan and closed his eyes.

The wind started from the end of the peach tree, making the whole tree rustle, but it was not hot, so Gu Fengyan simply stopped moving.

But she felt very uncomfortable, yet listening to Gu Fengyan's heartbeat was very sweet.

No wonder so many lovers want to hang on each other all day long... Gu Fengyan once again experienced the sweetness of it.

I didn't sleep until the afternoon.

But the sun was already halfway down.

Before it got dark, Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan hurriedly ate lunch and planned to go to the county to find someone to buy medicinal seeds. After careful selection, they picked four kinds of medicinal herbs, Bletilla striata, Adenophora striata, Angelica sinensis and Gastrodia elata.

These medicinal herbs are suitable for the land in Heqing Village and are in short supply on the market, especially Gastrodia elata.

Just then Ye Shan came to prepare the medicinal materials, and they gave him some instructions and left.

As expected, those medicinal herb merchants had not left yet and were living in the No. 1 room in Dongfulou.

After hearing the purpose of the visitor, Shopkeeper Li invited the guest directly to a private room upstairs, and asked his waiter to invite the two herbal medicine merchants.

It was them, the herbal medicine merchants arrived just in time. Both of them were from the prefecture. One was surnamed Sun, the second child in the family, so he was nicknamed Sun Er, and the other was surnamed Gao, who didn't need an abacus to do his calculations, so people on the street called him Gao Suanpan. The two of them traveled to various places to purchase herbal medicines all year round, and they knew much more information than this small county.

It would be most appropriate to ask them about the medicinal herb seeds.

Gu Fengyan first explained his purpose and observed the expressions of the two men.

"Medicinal herb seeds?" Sun Er frowned, as if it was the first time he heard someone wanted to buy medicinal herb seeds.

Huo Duan nodded. "The two bosses have traveled a lot for many years, so I think they know a lot. That's why I came to ask. If you can find out, I will reward you handsomely."

Gao Suanpan acted a little calmer and waved his hand, "Although we have been to many places, this is the first time we heard of someone wanting to buy this thing. There is no need to thank us. We are just asking around to see if we can find it."

Sun Er spoke frankly, "Is there a problem with the supply of medicinal herbs? What do you want the medicinal seeds for?"

In this era, there was no particularly complete supply chain for medicinal materials. Although Sun Er guessed that they wanted to grow some, he didn't know the details, so he asked without thinking too much.

However, people in this group all have some taboos, and Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan are not in a good position to answer questions about things that are business secrets, so they are in a dilemma.

Gao Suanpan sensed something was wrong and pulled Sun Er, "Why are you asking so many questions? Just find out."

Sun Er finally reacted and hurriedly apologized to them, "I am a straightforward person, please bear with me, my two young brothers."

They were flattered by the title of "brother" and said hurriedly, "No, no, no."

Since Sun Er and Gao Suanpan had already agreed, there was nothing important for them to stay for, so they said goodbye.

At this time, Sun Er slapped his head and said, "Don't worry, I almost forgot that I got some news about the herbs you asked me to find last time... Look at my memory!"

The medicinal herbs were used to treat Jing Ge'er's illness. I didn't expect to get results so soon.

Gu Fengyan was overjoyed, "Thank you, Boss Sun! Do you know who has the medicine now?"

If it were in the hands of Sun Gao and the other two, they would have taken it out long ago.

Sun Er bowed, "I know you two are looking for this medicine to save people, so I wrote a letter to the state government overnight, hoping to get news before leaving, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. When my family received the news, they asked around. I have a business partner named Su Baishao, who said he has a top-quality ginseng..."

"If you two want, I will write a letter, and you can go to the provincial capital to find him with the letter. He will still give you this little favor."

"Su Baishao?" This name doesn't sound like that of a merchant, Huo Duan couldn't help but speak out.

Sun Er shook his head and laughed, "In the early years, his family had Bai Shaoyao Qianqing, so he got this name. He is effeminate, but he doesn't match the name at all..."

Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan didn't care about the name, they only asked about the price.

Sun Er said that the ginseng was not old enough, so the price was not too high, only about fifty strings of cash.

It is within the acceptable range of Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan.

They asked Sun Er to write a letter, took it to express their gratitude, went home to visit Father Huo, and then returned to the village.

It was getting dark, and Ye Shan and Liang Chengze were working together in the yard to collect the medicinal herbs. Although the number of medicinal herbs from Heqing Village was not large, the amount sent from the neighboring village was considerable, and the total amount was considered acceptable.

When the two men saw them coming back, they packed up and said goodbye. Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan didn't try to keep them either. They tacitly agreed not to tell Ye Shan about finding the ginseng.

Liu Jingyu and Ye Shan are getting married soon, and this is a great wedding gift.

…

The two of them lived in peace at night and slept soundly, and they collected some more herbs the next day.

After Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan had collected all the herbs, they told them one by one not to go up the mountain to collect herbs in the near future and that they would not accept any even if they were brought to them.

The income from collecting herbs has made the villagers feel good, and at first they were dissatisfied, thinking that they had turned against them after making money. Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan explained for a long time that they would teach them how to grow herbs, and only then did they calm down the anger.

Some people were not very happy about it. They didn't make as much money from growing herbs as from collecting them. They had planned to adopt a voluntary system from the beginning, so they didn't say much.

Within an afternoon, the news that they were going to organize the planting of medicinal herbs in the village spread.

According to national laws, land cannot be bought and sold privately, and no crops or vegetables may be planted on it without written consent from the government.

When Gu Fengyan first heard about this law, he complained in his heart… It’s true that private sale of land is not allowed, but planting anything other than crops and vegetables is not allowed without government consent… Isn’t this bullshit?

How can ordinary people see the government's bunch of parasites whenever they want? No wonder these villagers are so poor.

Although he thought so, he still had to follow the law. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison with Huo Duan.

If you want to get close to the government, there is only one person who can help you - Liu Zhengshan.

This man was also an official. He went to the county every year to report on his work, and had become somewhat familiar to the officials.

When they were free in the afternoon, Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan went to tell Liu Zhengshan about this.

Unexpectedly, Liu Zhengshan frowned and said bluntly: "This is hopeless."